Corey Garza

University of Washington

Corey Garza joins University of Washington as the UW College of the Environment’s Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, effective September 1, 2023.

In this role he will work closely with College leadership, faculty, postdocs, staff, students and other community members to integrate an equity and justice lens into the College’s work,  advancing the vision that excellent science, teaching and scholarship can only be achieved in a community which is inclusive.

Previously, Garza was a professor in the Department of Marine Science at California State University, Monterey Bay. Garza is a marine ecologist studying spatial dynamics in species-habitat associations in marine systems. As campus lead for the NOAA Center for Coastal and Marine Ecosystems, he directed the Monterey Bay Regional Ocean Science Research Experiences for Undergraduates Program, and served on the Board of Directors of the American Geophysical Union and the Board of Trustees of the California Academy of Sciences.

Garza is a longtime advocate of diversity, equity and inclusion in the sciences, driven in part by his own experience as a first-generation student and member of a group historically underrepresented in STEM. In addition to his work building research and education infrastructure at CSU Monterey Bay, a Hispanic-serving institution, Garza previously served a three-year term on the National Board of Directors of the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS).